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A well-written sales statement helps you build confidence during the sales process. It also acts as a guide for determining if a prospect is a good fit for your products or services. As you write your sales statement, keep in mind that you need to quickly establish trust with the other person, so make the statement sound natural. If you write a script that seems pushy, rather than allowing time for listening and probing into the prospect’s needs and challenges, your statement may lead to more rejections than actual sales.

Set Goals

Before you put pen to paper, set a goal for the use of your sales statement. For instance, you may want to convince a prospect to buy from you during the conversation. Or you might want to establish a relationship in which you use additional marketing efforts to close the sale at a later date.

Create the Opening

Open your sales statement with a question that asks the prospect if they’re the right person to whom you need to talk. If the prospect says they do use services or products such as what you sell, next include a statement asking her if she has a few minutes to talk. If she does not have time, ask her about the best time to call back. Write down an introduction for yourself that includes your name, company name and reason why you’re calling for times when the prospect is willing to chat.

Explain Your Offerings

Next, write down a couple benefits of the product or service you sell, and use this part of the statement to help the prospect understand what you’re selling. The information needs to grab the prospect’s attention, such as briefly explaining how you helped a consulting business save hundreds of dollars on their utility bills through your energy audit services. Then it’s time to let the listener talk, so write down questions to ask the prospect in order to determine what kinds of problems the prospect faces.

Identify Objections

Prepare a list of the objections prospective buyers might raise as they question whether or not your company is a good fit for them. Focus on costs, scheduling, deadlines and competitive differences. Provide written answers to each objection so you’re prepared to answer smoothly and succinctly.

Create a Closing

The last part of your statement requires writing a call for action to encourage prospects who do need your products or services to take the next step. Your call for action might include offering to send more marketing information via email or setting up a meeting. Or, your statement may focus on offering to write a proposal or encouraging the person to use their credit card to finalize the purchase right then and there.

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About the Author

Nancy Wagner is a marketing strategist and speaker who started writing in 1998. She writes business plans for startups and established companies and teaches marketing and promotional tactics at local workshops. Wagner's business and marketing articles have appeared in "Home Business Journal," "Nation’s Business," "Emerging Business" and "The Mortgage Press," among others. She holds a B.S. from Eastern Illinois University.